Mathematics of Mercy

Ave Maria! This summer our cluster of parishes has provided a Summer Challenge in lieu of Vacation Bible School. It is a challenge to perform from home each of the seven corporal works of mercy, one a week, over seven weeks. Three of my granddaughters and I accepted the challenge. As we began by pondering how to feed the hungry from home, during a pandemic, with no money to donate, we realized that this was actually going to be quite a challenge. We spent the entire first week struggling to figure out our approach. After much prayer, I realized that this was an opportunity for me to work out, with the girls' help, a plan that had been ruminating inside me for some time. In one instant my prayers were answered by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to use my propensity for systematizing and my love of mathematics to solve the question of how to make the works of mercy pandemic-proof.

I know it was the Holy Spirit, because many loose ends of thoughts, ideas, images, and projects have come together as a coherent whole. For a while I have treasured Dorothy Day's image of a modern fulfillment of an ancient Irish monastery to serve the poor, the homeless, migrants, families, special needs children, sibling groups, youth who have aged out of foster care and others. I have talked about the El Greco painting "Allegory of the Camaldolese Order". And I have struggled with the mission to perform the corporal works of mercy during lockdown. In a flash of insight God let me realize that the answer to all of that is to calculate the dimensions of a plot of land to contain the shelter, well, animals and garden to support one human life. This, of course could be multiplied by the number of members of a family, but it would answer so much for me if I could determine a reasonable layout for such a hermitage homestead. I can not describe the entire process that led to all my conclusions, but I can report that I arrived at a basic design per person that makes sense to me.

I asked the girls to make a list of everything they need to eat in a day to feel well and live. They made thoughtful lists, all agreeing that goats, chickens and bees for milk, eggs and honey were good, but nobody wanted to slaughter an animal for food. We amended their lists to harmonize with our northern woodland climate. We multiplied a day's ration of food by 365 to assure we could live through four seasons with our harvest. We talked about digging wells. Next week they will design 144 square foot shelters. I went back over my previous notes about developing the Camaldolese model at Mary's Wood, ninety acres of woods and water in Springfield, Maine. I adopted the dimensions of the plots I had originally hypothesized. Yes, the farming and gardening would be very intensive in a limited space and the living quarters are small, but Mary's Ward could offer tangible mercy to thousands of people with this model. I'm sure there are code issues and permit issues and so forth, but I feel very confident that when the girls and I are finished our seven-week challenge, we will have a blueprint for a way forward for Mary's Ward. Thanks be to God!

So here's the math: a 144 square foot human shelter for one person (12 ' x 12 ') inside a 1296 square foot plot (36' x 36' or .03 acre) to include dug well, hive, apple tree, grapevines, garden, goat shed and pen, chicken coop and run, compost and living border walls.

I'm sure there will be many naysayers, but through the graces of perseverance and

fortitude, I pray that I will have the courage to do what I know I am supposed to do.

The design includes a tiny, see-through, glass-covered chapel at the center of the property so that social distancing can be maintained and Mass can always continue, God willing. I am certain that this is not the final pandemic, nor the last time for lockdown or quarantine. My goal is to design a layout such that social distancing is built in, and community continues undisturbed.

To master clothing the naked, my granddaughters and I made a spindle and learned to spin fiber into yarn this week. We have been gathering fur from the pet rabbit's brush and stripping fiber from plants in order to spin and then weave. Very exciting.

Mary, Mother of Mercy, Mother of Hope, Comfort of Migrants, pray for us!